CHAPTER C

    How, as soon as they had drawn up the Ordinances, they sent them to most parts of the Indies; how in some places great resentment was shown, while in others there were no slight disturbances, and how in the city of Lima the Municipality despatched the alcalde Palomino and Don Antonio de Rivera to apprise Vaca de Castro of it.

AS had been ordered by his Majesty the Emperor, with the concurrence of the Grandees and Prelates, clergy and members of his Royal Council, the Ordinances or laws for the government of the Indies, which we have quoted, were forthwith sent to New Spain, Espa?ola, Popayán, and Cartagena to be put in force. The Licentiate Hernando Díaz de Armendáriz came to the interior provinces, and when the tenour of the Ordinances became noised abroad it caused great excitement. Many who had spent their lives in the conquests, and had grown old in the discoveries, displayed great gloom, so that their countenances reflected the anxiety of their minds. In many places there were meetings and assemblies to discuss the Ordinances, at which it was proposed to report to his Majesty[361] so that he might order their petitions to be entertained until he could be better informed; for the thing had been done on statements of infatuated friars. In New Spain, however, there was a man abounding in virtues and quick to perceive what was best both for the King's service and the pacification of the country, Don Antonio de Mendoza. With great patience and goodwill he ignored the first outburst of the people, waiting until the general excitement had abated; and then, with loving words, though weighty, he not only gave hearing to their petitions but forthwith suspended the Ordinances, advising his Majesty that it was best so for his service. In other provinces also those who governed acted prudently and did the same; while in yet other parts they waited, as all the rest are doing now, because that course was wisest for the welfare and tranquillity of those Realms and best, moreover, for the natives, as any reasonable man will understand.

When the copy of the laws was brought by Diego de Aller to Panamá, there was in that Realm the captain Alonso de Alvarado who, ceasing to listen to vain talk, departed for Spain after having expressed the opinion I have just written. Then Juan de Cáceres the accountant, and others who were there, sent the transcript of the Ordinances to Peru. As soon as they reached that Realm great excitement arose, it being made known that they were very stringent. Alonso Palomino, who was then alcalde of the city of Lima, and Antonio de Rivera, were at once sent off in great haste to the city of Cuzco, where the Governor Vaca de Castro was, to give him an account of the unrest, that he might form an opinion on the best course to be adopted for the common weal and the safety of the Realm. They set out accordingly for Cuzco, where they found Vaca de Castro very indignant because the municipality of Lima had refused to receive the Bachelor Juan Vélez de Guevara as his Deputy. He sent a constable[362] of his to Lima to summon the officials of New Castille to appear before him at Cuzco; and, at the same time, he directed certain gold of the royal fifths, amounting to a hundred thousand pesos, to be sent to Spain. And because the royal officials of New Toledo were feeling aggrieved that Cuzco fell within the limits of that province, the Governor, after the latitude in which it stands had been well observed, and other points noted, ruled that it lay within the government of New Castille together with fifteen leagues beyond it, and that Arequipa and the very rich districts of the Charcas and Collao were to be included.

In Spain, after the promulgation of the New Laws, they discussed who should be sent to Peru as Viceroy. News came that it would be Don Antonio de Leyva, then again that it was the Marshal of Navarre. Some allege that this was whom his Majesty intended, but that the Marshal answered that he would not go out to deprive those who were in the Indies of their property, to which they were so justly entitled. It was also said here that in Spain many held that the men in the Indies were of mean position, and a poor lot who could easily be made to think that it would be best to comply with the Ordinances, and that very little sufficed to enable them to live as their fathers did. These things were heard by the people over here with great indignation, and, laying their hands on their beards, they said that it was clear that the glory of Spain's past was entirely attributable to its illustrious men. Their indignation was the greater in that all who dwelt in the Realms of New Spain and Peru were men of ancient lineage, whose forefathers had distinguished themselves in the wars which the Kings of Spain waged against the Moors. Finally, there was a wild tumult, the news flying from one part to another, and foreshadowing a recurrence of great evils.